Many modern motor vehicles are provided with inertia reel seatbelts. Such seatbelts automatically take up any slack in the seatbelt, thereby pulling it flush against a person's body. This has an advantage in that the seatbelts automatically adjust to the correct size settings for different size people.
However, in certain circumstances an inertia reel seatbelt may cause discomfort. This is especially prevalent amongst women as the seatbelt often presses against their breasts. Also, pregnant women do not like any pressure being applied to their abdomen. The discomfort may also extend to men who have large torsos or to any person who has an injury that would be pressed by the seatbelt, e.g. a broken collar bone or chest pains.
For these reasons, many people drive without using a seatbelt. This is dangerous, especially if the person is involved in a motor vehicle accident.
It is known to provide a seatbelt retaining element for inhibiting an inertia reel seatbelt from rewinding. Such element is attached to a part of the motor vehicle, e.g. a seatbelt guide and has a clip for frictionally gripping the seatbelt in a desired location. This element has a disadvantage in that it cannot be used in modern vehicles, in which the seatbelt is provided inside the motor vehicle framework, e.g. a doorpost. Thus there is no seatbelt guide to which it can be attached. Furthermore, when a person leans forward, thereby extending the seatbelt, the clip automatically releases. Thus the person then has to re-secure the clip when he leans backward. This can be dangerous if this happens while the person is driving as his attention is distracted from the road.
It is an object of the invention to suggest a stop device, which will assist in overcoming these problems.